Congress Statement

3RD ITUC WORLD CONGRESS 18-23 May 2014 Berlin BUILDING WORKERS’ POWER Congress Statement INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION Table of Contents The global economy 4 Inequality 5 The role of unions 7 The global workforce 8 Climate action 9 Peace and democracy 10 Conclusion 12 BUILDING WORKERS’ POWER — Congress Statement - 3rd ITUC World Congress 18-23 May 2014 Berlin 2 People feel abandoned by their governments With few exceptions world leaders and international institutions are pursuing an economic agenda that has created greater inequality and devastating unemployment, undermining democracies everywhere. • They have not defended the policies necessary to ensure secure and inclusive democracies and a sustainable planet for the 21st century; • They have failed to build a stable global economy, at tremendous cost to working people and their families; • They have failed to tackle historic levels of unemployment, to provide opportunities for young people and to stop the growth of precarious and informal work; • They have failed to secure a healthy environment and tackle climate threats; and • They have failed to eliminate nuclear weapons and deliver global peace. Even “Social Europe”, where rights and protections have traditionally been strong, is under attack. There is a profound mistrust of institutions as people increasingly lose trust in governments that prioritise business interests over the wellbeing of working people. Half the world’s population has direct or family experience with unemployment or reduced working hours. More than half are in vulnerable or irregular work, and 40% struggle to survive in the desper- ation of the informal sector. Unions across the world are leading the fight for economic and social justice, with policies based on fair distribution of income rather than the empty promise of neoliberal austerity. We know that working people need quality jobs, a social protection floor and a minimum living wage. Sadly, hundreds of millions of workers are currently denied the right to a minimum wage on which they can live with dignity, while more than 75% of people have no or inadequate social protection. Corporate welfare, which is increasingly dominating public policy, must not be to the detriment of social protection. In the face of escalating dominance of the US corporate model, we are determined to defend and rebuild collective bargaining, reduce precarious jobs in the formal economy and eliminate wage and social dumping. 62% of people want their government to tame corporate power. Wherever unions are organising around these issues they will have the full support of the global union movement. That is what this Congress is about. BUILDING WORKERS’ POWER — Congress Statement - 3rd ITUC World Congress 18-23 May 2014 Berlin 3 The global economy The ‘structural adjustment’ policies of the 1980s and 90s crippled development in poorer countries, just as today ‘austerity’ has damaged employment, growth and inclusion in too many developed nations. The global economy is no more secure in 2014 than it was seven years ago. We now have an unemployment crisis and inequality that is crippling economies and communities. Business and its political supporters have used the great recession to tip the balance of power firmly towards large corporations at the expense of ordinary people. They have underminded decades of progress made by trade unions and other progressive forces. Economic decisions, such as curtailing collective bargaining, restrict people’s rights and have un- dermined confidence in governments. Just 13% of people surveyed in the ITUC Global Poll 2013 believe their government is focused on the interests of working families, while many believe corporations have too much power. Despite overwhelming evidence that neoliberal policies are destructive and ineffective, international financial institutions continue to press governments to bow to the power of financial markets, and governments have cowered before them. Regulators neither foresaw nor prevented the economic crisis and they are still failing to prevent the greed and destruction of speculative capital. Progress on financial regulation has been derisory, and governments are being pressured to make social justice a variable that can be adjusted according to the state of the economy. Social justice must be the priority, based on capacity building and collective bargaining to achieve the best possible integration of economic and social considerations. Finance must be at the service of the economy, to guarantee a future for the next generations. In developing countries, particularly in Latin America, the search for alternative models of development to reduce inequalities and achieve regional integration has been hampered by continuous pressure on mechanisms to control capital flows while maintaining the financial liberalization of the 1990s. In addition, there is permanent pressure on developing countries to consolidate free-trade agreements and regulations through the WTO. These pressures keep these countries as exporters of raw materials, impacting on the environment and affecting the development of Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world. The dominant model of trade has exacerbated the negative trends with shrinking policy space for the development of valued-added production and the escalation of exploitative supply chains where labour rights are blatantly violated or non-existent. Investors are now suing states for loss of earnings where governments move to intervene in the interests of their people. This must stop. Cooperation rather than competition must be realised through both bilateral and multilateral agreements which are based on the full respect for labour and other human rights. The impact of agreements on employment and the environment must be considered, industrial development supported and social dialogue guarantees must ensure the involvement of social partners. BUILDING WORKERS’ POWER — Congress Statement - 3rd ITUC World Congress 18-23 May 2014 Berlin 4 The current model of free trade and investment agreements, inherited from the neoliberal hegemony, reinforces a model of domination captained by transnational companies and financial institutions. In this model, developing countries are included only as suppliers of agricultural, mineral and energy commodities in global value chains led by transnational corporations that exploit workers and violate their rights. This must end. Fair trade, national development, democracy, cooperation and solidarity with respect to labor and human rights must be the basis for a new international trade regulation, replacing multiple bilateral, bi- regional and multilateral agreements. The ITUC Global Poll 2013 found one in two working families have been hit by the loss of jobs or reduction of working hours. Young women in particular are impacted. More than half the world’s population say their incomes have fallen behind the cost of living in the past two years. Having a job no longer guarantees enough to meet basic needs, and women are the majority of the working poor. 59 percent of people are no longer able to save any money. Income inequality rose over the past three decades in 17 out of the 24 OECD countries for which data is available, and more than 1.2 billion people are living in extreme poverty worldwide. Inequality The OECD report ‘Growing Unequal’ shows that while disposable income grew on average by 1.7% per year between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s, the distribution of this growth was very unequal. The richest 10% saw their disposable income grow by an average of 1.9%, compared to 1.3% for the poorest members of society. As a result, the average Gini coefficient in OECD countries increased by almost 10% by 2010. The most recent report of the OECD from 2013 shows no reversal of this trend. In fact, income inequality increased further and more rapidly than ever before. The increase between 2008 and 2010 was as strong as in the twelve years prior to the crisis, and it was exacerbated by many governments’ regressive tax policies. The scandal of tax avoidance by the wealthy and by corporations within and between countries is compounded by the slashing of public services, jobs and social security. The fight against financial opacity, fraud and tax evasion must be determined and effective. This will mean combatting money laundering, tax optimisation and tax havens, practices which stand in the way of fair development and the reduction of inequality. Undeclared work and corruption put a heavy strain on public finances, and must be combatted. Undeclared work steals from public welfare, takes advantage of des- BUILDING WORKERS’ POWER — Congress Statement - 3rd ITUC World Congress 18-23 May 2014 Berlin 5 perate workers and creates unfair competition. Even though in developing countries the share of people living in poverty more than halved between 1990 and 2010, there are still more than 1.2 billion people living below the global poverty line of 1.25 USD a day. International financial institutions fail to acknowledge that rapidly rising income inequality puts even marginal growth at risk and poses a threat to any further poverty reduction. The last few decades have shown that rapid growth is not sufficient to make our societies more inclusive and fair. In Botswana, China, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, economic growth has been accompanied by significant increases in income inequality. As a result poverty has declined by less than it should have. This does not have to be the

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